Freezing Warm
by IzumiTheMoogle
Summary: Kakashi couldn't feel anything. Just the cold. The white around him blurred to grey, and he could barely comprehend that he wasn't long for this world. But out of the corner of his eye, he saw an orange speck... -One-Shot- /No yaoi intended!/


"Be on your guard Naruto," Kakashi warned his student, "This guy's one of their toughest fighters."

"Right," Naruto nodded in understanding, placing his tight glare on the enemy Snow ninja in front of them. He was just one of the many that they had to fight through to complete their mission.

Though Naruto was usually plenty enthusiastic about missions that involved lots of action, this one proved to be a tiresome one. He had already used up a good chunk of his chakra fighting some other enemy ninja, and the fact that the snow shower was slowly turning into a snowstorm wasn't very comforting.

But he couldn't complain. This mission was turning out to have a lot more action than he had anticipated.

"_Huh?? A mission with just me and Kakashi-sensei??" Naruto asked the Hokage, dumbfounded. _

"_We're pretty short-handed around here," Tsunade answered, "There have been a lot of requests for missions lately, so we don't have many men to spare."_

"_You said this was in the Land of Snow?" Kakashi asked, putting his hands in his pockets._

"_Yes," Tsunade nodded, "Though it's a rather long trip, the mission itself shouldn't be too much of a challenge for the both of you: there have been reports of some sort of gang activity around there, and the people are worried about there being attacks."_

"_Just a bunch of bandits, huh?" Naruto asked, folding his arms, "Jeez Tsunade-obaachan, can't you give us something really tough?"_

_Kakashi could tell that Tsunade was getting angrier by the moment, so he grabbed Naruto by his collar and smiled at her, "Don't worry ma'am. We'll take care of it with no trouble at all."_

"_That's what I like to hear," She said, her gaze narrowing on the blond shinobi. _

_Kakashi almost hurled Naruto out of the room. The boy rubbed his neck as they walked out of the building, "What the hell, sensei?"_

_Kakashi sighed, "You really still don't know when you're getting Lady Tsunade pissed off, do you?"_

"_I just wanted a tougher mission is all," Naruto explained, "I've been training a lot lately, and I really wanted to get an assignment that would let me test out my skills."_

"_If you want to impress the Hokage, first you must complete the tasks you are given," Kakashi sighed, almost like he was reciting lines out of a play he had read a thousand times. _

"_Yeah," Naruto rolled his eyes, "But yeesh, what a temper she's got!" He put his hands behind his head, "Seriously! Don't know how you manage to have her brief you on all those S-Ranks!"_

"_I just don't talk back, is all," Kakashi smiled behind his mask. _

"_Well yeah, you don't have any higher ranked missions that you could nag her for!"_

_Kakashi rubbed the back of his head, "Well, at least I know that it won't be a dull trip with you around."_

_Naruto laughed. Typical sensei._

_Kakashi smiled again. _

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

An army of Naruto clones leapt at the Snow ninja, some trying to pin him down while others tried to attack

In what seemed like frustration, the ninja drew a sword out of a sheath at his side and sliced through the Naruto clones, a painstaking process to be sure. In the flurry of the clones and the snowstorm, there was plenty of room for a sneak attack.

"Raikiri!!" Kakashi's voice boomed across the cliff that they stood on as he flew through the air with the electricity chirping feverishly in his hand.

"?!" The Snow ninja, though surprised, was not caught off guard. As soon as the ball of lightning made contact with him, he was gone in an outbreak of snow.

"Was that a… Snow clone??" Naruto asked to no one in particular, prepping himself for whatever attacks the enemy might make next.

Kakashi turned around, looking around warily. It didn't comfort him that the snowfall had just increased in intensity, thereby dropping his ratio of sight. Even the Sharingan couldn't pierce through snow.

"?!" Kakashi's eyes widened as he just made out the outline of the Snow Ninja only mere feet in front of him. Before he could react to anything, the enemy lunged forward, his sword stabbing through Kakashi like he was made of cloth.

For a moment, Naruto couldn't see anything through the blizzard that this bout of snow seemed to be becoming. Though, after it cleared, Naruto's mind was wiped clean of the snow. All he could see was dark red blood splattered on the snow in front of Kakashi.

Kakashi stood, with his eyes wide, as if he would stay frozen like that forever. Naruto's eyes and mouth dropped open in horror as he took in this sight. He commanded his legs to move, but nothing was responding, as if his limbs were too iced over to function. Even the blood in his veins seemed to run cold.

With a smirk, the Snow ninja yanked his sword out of Kakashi, causing one last spill of blood and a breathless gasp from the Jounin. It was then that Naruto realized with a horrendous thought that his sensei was falling right over the edge of the cliff they had previously been standing on.

"Kakashi-sensei!!!" He cried out to his teacher desperately, lunging forward to grab him by any means necessary.

However, with inhuman speed, the Snow Ninja reared up and sent Naruto flying back to the wall of the cliff with a hard blow to the stomach. The Leaf ninja darted his head up as he scrambled to his hands and knees. He crawled furiously over to the cliff's edge, scanning it agitatedly for any sign of his sensei.

Nothing. Just snow. He was gone.

He remained staring into the pit of snow flurries for what seemed like forever. Time slowed down as the earlier terrifying sight of Kakashi entered his mind, plastered there. Without even realizing his own emotion, Naruto's chakra began to boil red around him, his nails digging deep into the ground.

The Snow Ninja, having sensed Naruto's growing chakra pressure, fled, leaving the Jinchuuriki alone with the rock and snow. No. No, that couldn't be it! Finally he found words:

"SENSEI!!!"

……………………………………….

Kakashi couldn't feel anything. Just the cold. All of the white around him slowly started to fade to grey, and he could barely comprehend the fact that he wasn't long for this world.

Where was Naruto? Was he safe? What had happened? He couldn't die yet; not when his student might need him…

"_Naruto…"_ His mind processed that last thought before leaving him.

………………………………………

Naruto jumped down the rock face swiftly, furiously searching the ground once he had landed on it, "Sensei!!" He called out to the wind as he searched, "Kakashi-senseeeeeei!!!"

Naruto didn't care what he saw. Kakashi had to be alive. He HAD to be. There was no way he would just sit and accept that his teacher had been killed. He had already almost lost Ero-sennin to his own Kyuubi powers; he didn't want any of his loved ones to die.

His eyes widened as he barely made out a bulgy heap of green and red on the white ground, running over to it and falling to his knees, "Sensei!" He gasped almost breathlessly. Quickly he checked the man's pulse, his own heart working at twice its normal capacity.

With an exasperated sigh, Naruto quickly picked up Kakashi and held him piggy-back style on his back. The man was breathing, if only in short uneven gasps. But that was way better than nothing. Now he just had to get him out of the cold somehow.

With no sense of direction, no knowing where he was going, Naruto ran. He didn't know for how long or how far, but he knew he was running. He could think of nothing else to help his sensei. Someone had to be out here.

After what seemed like a lifetime, Naruto's legs were starting to ice up, becoming stiff and slow. He cursed his own bad luck, having no patience with his own problems. His only concern was Kakashi.

"Hm?" Something moving in the distance caught Naruto's attention. He squinted, and then barely made out the form of an older lady coming slowly towards them with a lamp in her hand. Naruto's pale and drained face instantly brightened up.

"Hey!!!" He yelled loudly, "Old Lady!!! Please!!! I need your help!!!!"

………………………………….

"…Mhm…" A low mumble was all that escaped from Kakashi's throat as his heavy eyelids slowly started to open, a blur of brown starting to come into focus as a roof over his head.

Slightly startled, but not energized enough to jump, Kakashi lolled his head around to see that he was covered with a blanket. On one of his sides, an older woman smiled kindly down at him.

"How do you feel?" She asked.

"… Numb…" Was all Kakashi could get out.

The lady chuckled, "The medication will do that to you," Kakashi noticed that she was fumbling around at a small tray full of needles and medical equipment. Were they still in the Snow Country?

"You know, you gave me quite a hard time," She continued, "I honestly thought you weren't going to make it for a while," She smiled, "And that boy that brought you here… He was always asking me if he could help somehow. He was so concerned. You two must have such a strong bond."

Boy? She must have meant Naruto. Kakashi exhaled. He was safe, thank goodness. But what else did she say? Naruto brought him here?

Suddenly, the sliding door to the room they were in opened up, and a very ashen-faced Naruto walked in. His face quickly exploded with color the moment he saw Kakashi looking lazily up at him.

"Kakashi-sensei!!" He cried out in relief kneeling next to him hurriedly, "Oh, thank God you're alright!"

Kakashi's eye crinkled up with a smile as he looked up at the boy's face. Though his expression was exuberant, there were dark bags under his eyes that told Kakashi he must not have been sleeping well however long he was out. He felt a low sting of guilt for that.

"When I found you in the snow, I was so scared," He admitted, his eyes clouding over with sadness, "I-I thought you were… Dead."

Kakashi's eye filled up with sympathy for the poor boy. And yet, he was proud… "Naruto," He managed to croak out. His student seemed alarmed that he was speaking, "I'm…" He took in a breath and smiled at Naruto again, "I'm very… Proud of you. You saved me."

Naruto's sadness immediately erupted into a beam. A mixture of relief, pride, and happiness welled up in his chest, "I'm just glad you're alright," He put a hand on one of Kakashi's, "You're always looking after me. Now it's my turn to look after you."

Kakashi made the effort to chuckle, which only came out in a little spurt. Luckily Naruto understood, "Thank you…" The Jounin said in almost a whisper.

Kakashi thought he saw the reflection of tears in Naruto's eyes, "It was nothing… Just don't scare me like that again, okay?"

"Deal."

Despite the cold that Kakashi had thought he would be frozen in, would die in, he seemed to find a ray of sunlight. Not a huge one. Just big enough to melt the ice enough so that he could carry on, and remember his reason for living.


End file.
